Stamp Simply - Let's Get Negative

Hey All! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I was up stamping until well after 1:00 am this morning. Have you ever just been so into "creating" that you look at the clock and see it is after one in the morning when you thought it was only 10 or 11 PM? LOL I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, the two cards I have to share with you today are below. One is for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge. You can get the details here. The idea of the challenge is to use dies or punches to create a negative image, or a stamp that leaves a negative image. It's hard to explain, but you will see it in my first card. The oval cut out and the butterfly both would be considered examples of negatives.



Instead of using the oval that was cut out, I used the paper that was left from the cut out. The butterfly has a floral pattern on its wings that does not stamp when you stamp the image, so that is the "negative" effect too. Come to think of it, the flower image is kind of a negative too, because the first two images are completely filled in and the other is just an outline. And it you want to get technical, the embossed card stock is also a form of negative imaging because the raised parts would be positive and the indented parts are the negative. LOL I'm such a dork!

Anyway, there is a lot of depth to this card. I did something that I normally don't do on my cards, and that is to stamp directly onto the printed paper. I did that with the image and the sentiment. I raised the embossed cut out oval with foam squares to give it more of a frame effect. Here are the deets:

Stamps: Stampendos (flowers) Sentiment: Studio G Butterfly: Inkadinkado
Paper: DCWV stack Bazzill card stock
Ink: Staz-On Timber Brown
Embossing: Cuttlebug folder
Oval cut out: Nesties
Ribbon: Michaels

My next card was inspired by the extremely cold weather we have been having. Several days have been below 0. So when it is this cold, I always turn to those comforting, warming things that help take the chill off. One of those things is a nice hot cup of cocoa. Here's the card:




I bought this stamp months ago, but this is the first time I've used it. I colored them with colored pencils (had to put reading glasses on because the print on these cups were so tiny!). I added liquid applique to the top of the cups and heated it with my heat gun so it would puff up. I used my finger which had a little ink on it to dab the liquid applique so that it looked like the "whipped cream" had been sprinkled with cocoa powder. I then used an ink pad to distress the edges and then mounted the cups image with foam squares for dimension. The sentiment is computer generated. Added the ribbon, made the bow separately, added a large clear dew drop that I "painted" with a Copic marker to match the colors of the card and done. Card deets:

Paper: Creative Imagination; Bazzill
Ink: Archival Jet Black; Colorbox brown
Stamp: Jone Inc. Teacup Parade
Stuff: Ribbon-Michaels; Liquid Applique, large dew drop thingy

Last but not least, I wanted to give all of you a huge heartfelt thank you for leaving the incredibly supportive comments on my last post. I truly have never felt so supported and cheered for, and you all made my day with each and every comment. Whether or not I get the DT position is a moot point. What really matters to me is all of you and how wonderful you are! So again, thank you sincerely. I am told that we will know next week who has been chosen. I will let you know as soon as I hear.

I will be drawing for the winner of my blog candy tomorrow. So if you don't mind, I'll wait and make the announcement of the DT position and the blog candy winner at the same time. So hopefully in just a few days. Thanks for all of you who helped support Pat Adam and her Cards for Kids project. The last update I heard was that she had well over 3,000 cards! I just can't get over it. What an amazing thing we all did!

Thanks so much for stopping by. . .Love having you here! Don't forget the Pic of the Week below. I took this one the first part of this past week. I'll see you all on your blogs!


Best,

Curt O'Brien

"God help me be the person that my dogs think I am."